EARLIER: THE area likely to be hit by storms has expanded, with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a storm warning for parts of Somerset, Scenic Rim, Southern Downs, South Burnett, Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley and the Gold Coast.

"They are forecast to affect the area northwest of Esk, Blackbutt, Linville and Yarraman by 6:25pm and Boonah, Kilcoy, the area between Boonah and Beaudesert and the area west of Kilcoy by 6:55pm," the warning said.

"Damaging winds and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely."

"Large Hail and damaging winds are likely with storms near Warwick and Oakington."

Golfball size hail and a 113km/h wind gust was reported at Oakey around 5pm.

This afternoon the BoM uploaded a map to Twitter saying severe thunderstorms were possible, or likely, for most of the state's south-east.

Non-severe or damaging storms are also possible for most of central coastal Queensland and much of the Cape, according to the forecast map.

"That's kind of indicative of where the moisture is," Ms Ord said of the map.

"In the south-west corner there's some really dry air so while storms are possible there they're more likely in the areas where there's more moisture."

Ms Ford said the nature of the system involved meant it was unlikely to lead to hail, however, she said there was a good chance of strong winds for the area south of Toowoomba.

Ms Ford said that was due to a technical fact about the system which she referred to as wind-shear.

Essentially this means the direction of the winds blowing along the earth's surface, or lower atmosphere, is different to the direction of the winds in the upper atmosphere.

"At the moment we have light north-easterlies in the lower atmosphere and then strong westerlies in the upper atmosphere," Ms Ord said before adding that wind-shear like this often increases the severity of strong winds during a storm.